Construction on Infocity-II approach road to start soon

After battling a phase of slowdown, the Orissa government has renewed its commitment to place IT projects on the fast track.

Taking note of the resurgence in demand for IT projects in the city, the state government has decided to resume construction work on the three-km, four-lane approach road to the Info valley (Infocity-II) project soon.

The tenders for this road have been finalized and the construction work on the road can begin anytime, said Pradipta K Mohapatra, IT secretary, Orissa government.

Meanwhile, work on the Info valley project is set to begin in April this year, keeping in view Infosys' plan to resume work on its second development centre at the Info valley.

“Infosys has stated that it is keen to start construction work on its second campus in April this year and we have to ensure that the infrastructure at the Info valley is ready by then. Besides electricity and water supply, there will a three-km, four-lane road connecting the Info valley region with the National Highway”, said Mohapatra.

Apart from Infosys, a host of IT SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) have evinced interest in setting up their bases at the Info valley, he stated.

The decision to expedite construction work on the Info valley project was taken at a recent high level meeting chaired by the state chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The Info valley project is to be developed on over 600 acres at Janla between Bhubaneswar and Khurda.

Of the total area of 600 acres, the IT players would have their development centres on 320 acres of land while 100 acres would be set aside for green cover.

Plans are afoot to develop a township spread over 180 acres within the Info valley. Infosys Technologies is set to be the anchor tenant of the Info valley region and 100 acres would be alloted to the IT firm in the region.

The software major had earlier announced that it would kick off construction work on its second development centre in the city in April this year. Infosys has committed an investment of Rs 300 crore in the first phase of the project which is scheduled to be operational within 14 months of commencement of construction work. Infosys which has a headcount of around 3,500 at its existing city centre spread over 45 acres, would add 3,000 more people in the first phase of its expansion project.

The second campus would have a pool of 5,000 employees in all.